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ECW Hardcore TV - July 11, 2006

HugeRockStar760Posted on 07/16/06 at 22:12:15




ECW Hardcore TV
Date: July 11, 2006
Location: Minneapolis, MN

Interview:
Paul Heyman opens ECW Hardcore TV backstage with an announcement. Even though Rhino won the ECW World Heavyweight Title from Rob Van Dam under questionable circumstances thanks to Bill Alfonso, the victory is still valid as this is ECW where anything goes. However, that does not mean that Rhino will get out of last week without some kind of punishment from Paul Heyman. Paul Heyman notes that Rhino is once again not only the ECW World Television Champion, and of course the ECW World Heavyweight Champion. Paul Heyman also notes that Sabu defeated Masato Tanaka in a Tables Match to become the number one contender for the ECW World Television Title. Earlier today, Paul Heyman and Sabu had a discussion about what happened to his good friend Rob Van Dam and also about just when Sabu could envoke the number one contendership for the ECW World Television Title. The answer was that Sabu could indeed challenge for the ECW World Television Title tonight! Sabu accepted that offer and the match will happen tonight in the main event.

No-Countout-No-DQ-Match:
CM Punk defeated John Kronus when John Kronus passed out in the Anaconda Vice
in 0:08:07.
Rating: ****

CM Punk has made quite the impact in the first month of Extreme Championship Wrestling's revival. Not only is he undefeated, but CM Punk has not shyed away from taking on one of the ECW originals and icons of the hardcore lifestyle, The Sandman. Just last week, CM Punk put The Sandman through a table with a double underhook facebuster through a table that reportedly gave The Sandman a concussion that was serious enough to keep him from appearing on tonight's show. Another interesting note coming from last week's episode of Hardcore TV is that CM Punk stole The Sandman's singapore cane and this week he carried it with him to the ring for his match against John Kronus.

John Kronus, of course, is one half of The Eliminators, along with Perry Saturn, who are making a comeback together as a tag team. The Eliminators were one of the greatest ECW tag teams, but there are a few teams that would disagree with all the hype they've received since their return. In particular, The Impact Players tag team of Lance Storm and Justin Credible. They also have reformed another great ECW tag team but most of the attention from the fans and wrestling journalists have been directed towards John Kronus and Perry Saturn. In this match, John Kronus entered into singles competition against CM Punk with his tag team partner Perry Saturn watching from ringside.

CM Punk and John Kronus had a back and forth match but the momentum of the match would shift decidely in the favor of CM Punk after The Impact Players decided to get involved. John Kronus had CM Punk on the mat and he was about to hit the 450 Splash when Justin Credible and Lance Storm rushed down to the ringside and attacked Perry Saturn from behind. John Kronus jumped down from the top turnbuckle to turn his attention to The Impact Players attacking his tag team partner. However, CM Punk immediately jumped to his feet, apparently having played possum with John Kronus and surprised him from behind with an arm triangle facebuster. From there, CM Punk applied the Anaconda Vice, an Arm Triangle Choke, to John Kronus in the middle of the ring. The referee asked John Kronus whether he was going to submit or not, but he seemed to have already been passed out from the earlier facebuster and the Anaconda Vice. The referee awarded the match to CM Punk, who continues his impressive winning streak here in ECW.

After the match, The Impact Players bring Perry Saturn into the ring. They proceed to insult The Eliminators by hitting Perry Saturn with an imitation of Total Elimination! The Impact Players pose over The Eliminators before leaving the ring to boos from the crowd.

Interview:
Kelly does another strip tease in an attempt to persuade Al Snow to agree to her idea of becoming his manager. Al Snow walks out to the stage and looks around, hardly believing a stage was set up for someone to strip on a wrestling program. Al Snow tells Kelly to put some clothes on because it won't be sex that sells him on Kelly being his manager. It would be opportunity and where she can take him in this stage of his career. As far as his decision, Al Snow tells Kelly that she and everyone else watching ECW will know what his decision is next week.

Three Way Dance:
Perro Aguayo Jr. won a Three Way Dance:
        x Cibernetico defeated La Parka in 0:08:03
        x Perro Jr. defeated Cibernetico after a Swastika in 0:08:30
Rating: *** 1/4

Once again, three of AAA's biggest stars made an appearance this week on Hardcore TV. Last week, La Parka surprised the ECW Arena crowd by appearing in the ring with his signature chair with him. He acted like he was only there to dance, but instead surprised Cibernetico with a chairshot and helped Perro Aguayo Jr. win the match. Afterwards, La Parka hit Perro Aguayo Jr. with a chairshot as well, signifying that he has no allegiances. It needs to be said that the La Parka from World Championship Wrestling is not the same La Parka that now wrestles for AAA and ECW. The original La Parka had a contract dispute with AAA and left the promotion for its competition, CMLL. However, the AAA owner, Antonio Pena owns the rights to the La Parka name so he now goes by L.A. Park in CMLL. The La Parka in AAA and ECW currently was La Parka Jr., but is now being referred to as La Parka.

This match was fought under Three Way Dance rules. Once the first wrestler is eliminated by pinfall or submission, the last two wrestlers continue to fight until there is a winner. The lucha libre style has been well received by the ECW crowds, even in the more WWE friendly environments, as it is a different style of wrestling. La Parka would be the first wrestler to be eliminated after Cibernetico hit a low blow, surprising him enough to get the three count. However, La Parka would quickly get his revenge against Cibernetico by hitting him with a chairshot, allowing for Perro Aguayo Jr. to hit Cibernetico with the Swastika to win the match.

No-Countout-No-DQ-Match:
The Full Blooded Italians (Little Guido and Tony Mamaluke) defeated The bWo (The Blue Meanie and Stevie Richards) when L. Guido pinned Meanie after a flying headbutt in 0:07:28.
Rating: *** 1/2

This was a tag team match featuring four ECW originals. Each team was trying to establish itself in the tag team division in order to get a tag team title shot at some point against the current ECW World Tag Team Champions, Limited Edition. Speaking of Limited Edition, Nick Dinsmore and Rob Conway watched this match from the aisle, apparently scouting future competition for their championships. The ECW World Tag Team Champions would play a role in the outcome of this match as well. Tony Mamaluke entered the ring and hit The Blue Meanie with a Russian Legsweep. Little Guido followed that up when he went to the top turnbuckle and hit a flying headbutt on The Blue Meanie. As Little Guido went for the pin, Limited Edition pulled Stevie Richards off the ring apron, preventing him from breaking the pin, and began to attack him on the outside of the ring. Little Guido got the three count and The Full Blooded Italians were declared the winners of the match.

Meanwhile, on the outside of the ring, Rob Conway held Stevie Richards up and Nick Dinsmore hit him with a championship beltshot to the face, knocking him down to the mat. The ECW World Tag Team Champions left arrogantly as the crowd booed.

Interview:
Bill Alfonso is in Rhino's lockerroom holding both the ECW World Heavyweight Title and ECW World Television Title belts. All week people have been asking him why he turned his back on Rob Van Dam and aligned himself with Rhino. Bill Alfonso says that he doesn't need to justify why he helped Rhino win the ECW World Heavyweight Title. However, he will explain why because Rob Van Dam needs to realize why the Manager of Champions isn't his manager anymore. Rob Van Dam is the one who turned his back on Bill Alfonso. Ever since the original ECW ended in early 2001, Rob Van Dam had a comfortable job with the WWE. Bill Alfonso quotes Raven by asking, "What about me? What about Bill Alfonso?" For years, Rob Van Dam ignored Bill Alfonso. He never once tried to contact him or to help him get a job position with the WWE. Now that Rhino is the ECW World Heavyweight Champion and ECW World Television Champion, it will be years before Rob Van Dam ever gets close to winning either of these titles back.

Cactus Jack says that Tommy Dreamer has gotten what he most wanted from Mick Foley. Tommy Dreamer wanted Mick Foley to return to his hardcore roots. As everyone watched two weeks ago, Mick Foley sent a message to Tommy Dreamer that Cactus Jack was almost ready to return when he hit a piledriver on Beulah, his lovely wife, through a table. Then, last week, on July 4th, Cactus Jack decided to declare his independence day by lighting off some fireworks of his own...in Tommy Dreamer's face! Cactus Jack is officially back with ECW. Not because he has somehow found the love he once had for ECW. No, the reason for the return of Cactus Jack to ECW has to do solely with Tommy Dreamer and his love of ECW. The best way to get to Tommy Dreamer's love of ECW is to use the hardcore style of ECW against him until he either quits or returns to the land of sports entertainment, the WWE.

No-Countout-No-DQ-Match:
Rhino pinned Sabu with the Gore in 0:10:52.
Rating: **** 1/4
(Rhino retained the ECW World Television Title.)

Last week, Rhino did exactly as he said he would do and that was to win back the ECW World Heavyweight Title and once again reign supreme over Extreme Championship Wrestling with both of its singles championships. Unfortunately, Rhino did not win the match without controversy. Of course, what is Extreme Championship Wrestling without some controversy, right? Due to how Rob Van Dam lost the ECW World Heavyweight Championship, Paul Heyman granted Sabu, who is the number one contender to the ECW World Television Title, a championship match against the ECW World Television Champion Rhino.

There were a few memorable spots in a match that was mainly and all out brawl. Sabu attempted an Arabian Facebuster from the top turnbuckle onto a table where he had put Rhino on the outside of the ring. However, Rhino moved out of the way and Sabu and the chair he was holding went through the table. Rhino got another table and set it up on the outside of the ring. Rhino brought Sabu back into the ring and up to the top turnbuckle with him. Amazingly, Rhino hit a sitting powerbomb from the top turnbuckle through the table on the outside of the ring! The fans were on their feet in disbelief over that move. It took a few moments but Rhino was able to get back up to his feet and grabbed Sabu, who was still out cold from going through the table, and went back into the ring. Rhino took his time and awaited Sabu to get back to his feet. Once Sabu staggered back up, Rhino met him with a Gore. Rhino got the three count easily after that and he retained the ECW World Television Championship. Is there anyone that can stop Rhino? He has quickly established himself as not only the most powerful wrestler in ECW, but arguably in the entire professional wrestling industry.


Card rating: *** 3/4
Snabbit888Posted on 07/22/06 at 00:18:40

Big time main event!  Go Sabu!

Punk keeps winning, and that makes me a happy boy.  Good to see the Eliminators get theirs too.  Lousy overrated bastards.  Plus, I have a wrestling man-crush on Lance Storm. :)

Snow doesn't want any ass from Kelly?  Idiot. :)

Oh boo... this is fake La Parka?  *boos and hisses*  Would have liked to see Cibernetico win, but eh, what can you do?

Awww... poor bWo.  Limited Edition is not doing a lot to make friends, that's for certain.

Alphonso's justification for turning on RVD was a good one.  Well done with that angle.

Was expecting Rhino to drop the TV Title tonight, so you surprised me that he not only beat Sabu, but won in dominating fashion.
HugeRockStar760Posted on 07/22/06 at 01:27:30

Ah, you're a Cibernetico fan too? I really believe if Vince got off his stereotypical high horse about latino wrestlers, Cibernetico would be a perfect fit in the WWE (preferably ECW). He reminds me of a 2000 heel Triple H with his look. His gimmick would even be a good fit in the WWE with the over the top cult leader with La Secta. He is much better unmasked as well. And unlike Rey Mysterio, he has some size to him, so he'd be a believable World Champion, or at least a solid upper midcarder.

Yeah, it is La Parka Jr...But I wanted to try to be realistic about it. Of course, Perro Aguayo Jr. is working for CMLL, not AAA, so I am using some artistic license here with my booking. From watching the Galavision shows, La Parka Jr. isn't that bad. I'm not quite sure why people dislike him. I suppose people prefer the original, but that La Parka isn't getting any younger.

I haven't been more excited for a debut of a wrestler as I have been with CM Punk. I'm sure CriticoftheDawn can't wait, but I'm sure there has to be some skepticism and trepidation over how WWE will book him. As I've heard, Punk has already worked in more restholds, which is so typical WWE style. Otherwise, even though CM Punk isn't a prototypical wrestler in size, I think he'll break through the glass ceiling that smaller, talented guys like Paul London just can't get over. Mainly because CM Punk has a charisma, look and gimmick that is very unique. The mic skills are amazing. He's going to be right up there with Mick Foley eventually as far as being able to tell a story and make you care about professional wrestling.

I'm uncertain as to where to make Limited Edition's allegiances be: face or heel. I'm thinking they'll be a tweener team. They don't care about the fans, they don't care about the faces, and they don't care about the heels either. They just care about themselves and the World Tag Team Titles.

The Bill Alfonso turn made perfect sense to me and it tied together old ECW with the new ECW. It wasn't some turn out of nowhere with no justification like with the Paul Heyman angle. Although, I must admit, despite disliking the WWE's angle at first, I think this cult like leader character Paul Heyman has is perfect and he plays it so well, while playing off the tongue in cheek Kool Aid references and referring to the crowd as nothing more than "children" who know no better so they should listen to their leader Paul Heyman.

I'll be honest about the Rhino/Sabu match. Had Sabu not also been involved in that incident with Rob Van with the drug bust, he'd be World Television Champion. This is just my subtle way of punishing Sabu, but also not completely burying him either as he lost to Rhino, who has been on a roll lately.

You might notice that there was no Rob Van Dam tonight either....Won't be again for another three weeks either.

Sorry to babble but I really like this circuit, even more than Smackdown! Wrestling (although, I love that one too). It's been a long time since I've been able to sustain a circuit that has some depth to it beyond results only. You might notice too that I try to make every ECW and Smackdown! Wrestling show stay within their respective time slots (except for the July 4th ECW show, which I decided to extend to two hours). That adds more of a challenge too.
americamamushiPosted on 07/22/06 at 07:33:52

OoOoOo, Sabu & Rhino for the TV title tonight. Tasty main event indeed.

I liked seeing John Kronus, but I'm glad Punk won.  His streak continues and he gets a credible win over one of the ECW alumni.

:P What does Al Snow need Kelly for?  He's already got head. ;) haha

You go La Parka!  And I'm not exactly sure how you "hit" a swastika since it's a submission ;) but still, good match.

I love the bWo, but really, as much as I love them the FBI were the right tandem to go over here.

Love Cactus being back too.  I like the reasoning behind it too.  I look forward to watching this angle further unfold.

Like Snabbit, i thought Sabu was gonna take the TV title home with him too (albeit in a screw job manor as not to allow Sabu the clean with and detract from Rhino's dominance as world champ)  But still, good stuff.